TSL - Mother's Day
by Lachenna
Summary: Sequel to "The Storm's Legacy". Allen and Kanda celebrate Mother's Day with their three kids. Modern AU. Mpreg. AllenxKanda.
1. Prologue

A/N: I've decided I need to post some of my backlog of unfinished stories, and this is one of them. This story won't be updated with any sort of regularity; instead of being on a schedule like my main stories, it will be updated whenever I feel like it. Basically, I'll update it based on how it's received. If you like it, please review it; I'm more likely to work on this story and update it if I feel like people want to read it.

This is the sequel to "The Storm's Legacy". I'd tell you more than that, but that's what the prologue is for. ;)

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~Prologue~

It has been a busy two and a half years since we last saw Allen and Kanda. Their lives now revolve almost completely around their children, but with three of them, it isn't surprising that they have little time for anything else. But they wouldn't have it any other way. After remembering the chaos of their previous lives, their suburban middle class lifestyle is exactly what they both want out of life.

Erika started kindergarten in the fall, recently celebrating her sixth birthday with her extended family and her four favorite people: Mommy and Daddy, Auntie Lenalee, and Grandpa Cross. Teidoll lost the race for favorite grandparent when Cross, with Allen and Kanda's permission, bought the little girl a Yorkie puppy for Christmas the year before. Eri spends most of her time in the backyard with Kiwi, which Kanda claims isn't really a dog at all: it's "a ball of fuzz with legs". Erika's unnatural maturity from her time as an exorcist has stuck with her, and while that scares her parents, they are thankful the little girl is responsible enough to care for her dog by herself.

The twins, Matthew and Yumi, will be turning two in a couple months. Yumi is almost a carbon copy of her father, in both looks and mannerisms. She prefers to be left to her own devices, but when Kanda is home, she is glued to his side. Matthew wants nothing more than to be like his older sister, to the point where he carries his stuffed dog everywhere. The usually well-behaved auburn haired boy threw a fit that lasted for days when Erika started going to school. After a week of temper tantrums, Allen was so fed up that he enrolled the twins in daycare three days a week, just to get some quiet around the house. But they were happy to have their own "school" to attend, so happy in fact, that Erika wanted to go too, and Allen soon found himself with more free time than he had ever had before.

Kanda spends most of his time at work, but that's the nature of his job as head chef. He loves his kids, and when he is at home, he spends every moment he can with them. Allen never goes neglected either, not while Kanda remains the type of man who can't keep his hands off the mother of his children. Their relationship is stronger than it has ever been.

The biggest surprise for the couple had come in September, when they learned that Erika's kindergarten teacher was going to be an E. Galmar. They initially wrote it off as a coincidence; Emilia wasn't someone they ever expected to see in this life. But then came the first day of school. And Eri came home babbling about how wonderful Miss Emilia was. There was also a note for Allen in the little girl's backpack in which Emilia expressed how thankful she was to finally connect with someone from the past.

One very deep discussion later, and it was decided that Allen would handle everything school related. Neither wanted to have to explain things to Emilia. It was easier to just let her think that Allen was Erika's father and that he had a wife.

So when Allen started volunteering in the classroom, he had to explain to Erika that she couldn't call him "Mommy" at school. She refused - he was her Mommy not her "dad". So they reached a compromise: she could use his first name at school. It was hard for her to remember at first, but she stuck with it. Because those times when Allen was at school were her favorite times: she didn't have to share him with the rest of the family.


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: Here's Chapter 1! Finally. Sorry about the long wait.

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Thursday morning I was woken by Matthew climbing onto the bed. He couldn't do it by himself yet, and always made a lot of noise trying. Once he knew that I was awake, he ran to my side of the bed and demanded to be picked up. I smiled as I lifted him onto the bed, setting him between me and Kanda. And like always, Yumi was already there, curled up in Kanda's arms, her favorite place in the world. She grinned at me while her father slept on, unaware of her presence. It was a precious sight; I couldn't resist snapping a quick picture with my phone.

I reached over and tickled Yumi, noting that she was already dressed. And while he was naked from the waist down, Matthew was at least in a different shirt from the one he slept in. Which meant that Erika was awake. I wasn't sure if she was attempting to mother them or if she just thought of her siblings as living dolls, but Eri loved to dress the twins in the morning. But then again, we never could get out the door fast enough for her on Thursdays, so maybe she was just trying to speed things up.

Yumi's giggling woke Kanda, and he responded by rolling over on top of her. She laughed louder, and Matthew joined her in trying to make Kanda move. We ignored the kids for a moment, greeting each other with a kiss. "Good morning, Moyashi."

We broke apart when Yumi shouted, "Daddy! Move!"

As Kanda let Yumi go, Erika came into the room, Kiwi at her heels. All three of our children piled on top of Kanda in a laughing heap. I pulled Eri off the pile and fixed the crooked ponytail she had put in her navy hair. She pouted and pulled out the ponytail holder, holding the elastic band out to me. "Braid it!"

I laughed and put the low ponytail back in, kissing the top of her head. "After breakfast."

Then I turned her around so we were facing. "Did you take Kiwi outside?"

Erika didn't stop pouting. "Yes."

"Good girl." I ruffled her hair and pushed her back towards the others. She climbed into the pile and began tickling Kanda.

I laughed and headed for the bathroom. I locked the door behind me, needing a little bit of privacy. I was not ready for Kanda to find out that my morning routine for the last few days included throwing up. He would jump straight to the deeper meaning, and I was still hoping it was just a stomach bug. _Why on earth is that_ _ **still**_ _a possibility?!_

I couldn't help staring critically at my reflection while I was getting ready. In the past six years, Kanda had barely changed at all, growing into the man I remembered him being. But aside from my scar and hair color, I had changed a lot from how I looked back then. And not necessarily in a good way.

Because I wasn't fighting for my life anymore, I didn't have any of that muscle tone, and it made me look especially skinny. My hips had an embarrassingly feminine curve to them from giving birth to three children. And to top it all off, I had developed breasts while carrying the twins. They were minuscule by female standards, but their existence was still completely mortifying to me. I could hide it all with the proper clothing, but I still got mistaken for a woman on a daily basis. It was depressing, but it was all forgotten when I was with my children.

When I was done getting dressed, I went back into the bedroom and began pulling the kids off Kanda. Erika went downstairs to feed Kiwi, and Matthew climbed onto my back. Yumi tried to follow Kanda into the bathroom. She flopped on the floor and pouted when he wouldn't let her come in. Her brother was pulling on my hair, so I left her there while I took Matthew to finish getting dressed.

By the time that was done, Kanda and our daughters were downstairs eating breakfast. That was one of the many wonderful things about having Kanda at home: meals were a breeze. Of course, our kids were well behaved to begin with, but not having to cook was quite a load off me. Kanda, the professional chef, could whip up scrambled eggs and silver dollar pancakes in half the time it took me to pour milk on cereal.

I strapped Matthew into his high chair beside Yumi, who was all smiles again now that Kanda had pulled her hair into a ponytail that matched his. The second I was sitting down, Erika was in my lap and thrusting her hairbrush in my face. "Mommy! It's after breakfast! You said you'd braid my hair after breakfast!"

"Just calm down, Eri." I laughed and moved her back to her own chair. "You may have finished, but I haven't started. Be a bit more patient."

She pouted until Kanda picked her up and turned her upside down. "Come on, Sprout. Let Mommy eat. You know he gets cranky when he's hungry."

I stuck my tongue out at Kanda as he set Erika back down. He shoved a pancake in my mouth in response. Everyone laughed, and Matthew and Yumi started flinging the tiny pancakes at each other. Normally I would have stopped them, but I was overwhelmed by nausea and bolted to the bathroom. _Fuck! No, no, no. It's just a stomach bug, a flu. This_ _ **isn't**_ _happening again._

When I returned to the kitchen, Kanda had gotten the twins cleaned up. He gave me a questioning look, but I ignored him. Breakfast was out of the question now, so I knelt behind Eri and braided her hair. I could hear Kanda smirking at me while I worked. "Nice to see you getting in touch with your feminine side, Moyashi."

I had no choice but to ignore the crack. With three impressionable kids watching, any retort I made would be repeated in public, and that would be beyond embarrassing. Plus I knew that watching me care for our children aroused Kanda, so the insult really didn't matter.

After breakfast, we got the kids piled into the car. But they knew it was Thursday, and that meant daycare, and therefore they went without a fuss. If anything, they were too excited. It almost made me sad, thinking that they wanted to leave me. I kissed them all goodbye, and then Kanda and I made out until Erika yelled at us. "Dad-dy! Let go of Mommy! It's time to go!"

The twins started chanting, "go!"

I laughed at Kanda. "Have fun."

He kissed me once more, and then shoved me away with a hand on my forehead. The kids cheered as he got into the car. He turned to glare at them. "Alright brats, we're not going anywhere until you shut up."

The girls fell silent instantly. Yumi teared up at Kanda's tone. Eri clamped her hands over Matthew's mouth. "Ssshhh!"

I smiled at the adorable sight and waved until they were out of the driveway.

The house was much too quiet without the kids in it. The dog didn't help with that either, as he slept when Eri wasn't home. I headed for the kitchen to clean up breakfast. The mess wasn't actually that bad. Though just looking at the pancakes was making me nauseous.

I began bagging up the leftovers, but I was stopped by my cellphone ringing. "Hello?"

"Hey Allen. It's Komui. I've got your test results."

"And?" I almost couldn't get the word out, and I was definitely incapable of saying a full sentence. After what happened at breakfast, I knew what he was going to say, and I didn't want to hear it.

"You were right. You're pregnant."

I didn't respond, _couldn't_ respond. I didn't want this to be happening again. After some silence, Komui spoke again. "Allen? You know you don't have to keep it. You could-"

"Please don't finish that sentence. You know I couldn't."

"Right, right." It sounded like he was laughing, but I couldn't quite tell. "So I'll see you tomorrow then?"

I sighed. "Yeah."

Hanging up the phone, I collapsed into a chair. And that brought my attention back to the remains of breakfast. The mess that hadn't seemed so bad just moments before now seemed huge. Life with three young children was chaos. How was I supposed to add another to that?

I sat there, lost in panicked thought, until I noticed that I hadn't eaten anything yet. So I made my own breakfast, something that wouldn't make me nauseous, and finished cleaning up.

The problem wasn't having another kid. It was going to be difficult, but going from three to four would be nothing like the insanity of going from one to three. And I loved my children more than anything in the world. I already loved the new one inside me, and I had only known about it for an hour.

No, the problem was that I didn't want to be pregnant again. The memory of how completely miserable I was while carrying Matthew and Yumi was still very fresh in my mind. I didn't want the morning sickness, the aches and pains, the heartburn, the mood swings, the cravings for weird food, any of it. I knew Kanda would tease me for overthinking things, but I couldn't help it.

I headed up to my studio once the kitchen was clean. It wasn't much, just a small room we had had soundproofed, with a couple keyboards and some basic recording equipment in it. It was my favorite place to spend my alone time. However, after that phone call, all the room did was add more stress. My music career was in a weird spot at the moment, and having another baby would only make it weirder.

I had spent the first few years of my career freelancing, selling my compositions to various local recording studios. Then that one song I wrote went crazy popular, and suddenly there were real studios interested in my work. But it didn't stop there. They were all interested in _me_ too. They didn't just want to buy my songs; they wanted me to sign with them. The exact arrangement varied between studios, but it wasn't just writing and composing exclusively for them that they wanted: they wanted me to _record_ with them.

I wasn't interested in recording any of my songs myself. And with three, soon to be four, kids, I didn't want to have a real job. I liked working from home where I could spend the majority of my time with them. And I didn't want the publicity either; I was the center of attention back during the war, and after all of that, I liked having my anonymity in this life. But when I tried to tell the studios that I wasn't interested, they took that to mean that I was playing hard to get, and kept offering me more money.

Even with a fourth child on the way, money was not one of my concerns. Kanda worked because that was what we both wanted; he needed the job for his mental health, not the money.

Not long after I got pregnant with the twins, Accenco, the pharmaceutical company that had caused my pregnancy, restructured the terms of our settlement. They had modified the drug, now intending for it to give males those female organs. They already had public interest in a drug that would allow men to have babies: the LGBT community loved the idea of men being able to have children together, and everyone else loved it for the fertility issues it would solve; if a woman was unable to have children the traditional way, her husband could use the drug and they could have children that way. Accenco only had one problem before they could release their new product: me. If people ever found out that their new miracle drug had started with an accidental pregnancy in a sixteen year old child, the backlash would be fierce. In exchange for signing a new agreement with a much more stringent confidentiality clause, they doubled the amount of my original settlement and set up college funds for all of my current and future children.

My phone buzzed while I was lost in thought. It was a text from Lenalee. "Hey! Wanna go grab some coffee?"

When I didn't respond, she texted again. "By the way: Komui called. If you don't respond right now, I'm coming over."

That scared me, which was probably her goal. "What did he say?"

"You already know the answer to that."

 _Dammit._ Another text popped up before I could come up with a good comeback. "So are you going to come meet me or do I have to drag this out of you?"

"Fine, fine. I'm coming."

Spilling my guts to Lenalee that morning felt good. It was still hard to get used to the idea that she actually wanted to know what was bothering me, and part of me felt bad that she knew about the baby before Kanda did, but I needed her to talk me out of my panic. It would be much easier to face him now that I was more accepting of what was happening.


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: Apparently, this story is going to get updated every three months. ;) Not intentionally, but the chapters so far have been posted like that, so we'll see what happens with the next one.

To Asura101: Of course, he can't. ;)

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Allen spent Thursday afternoon volunteering in Erika's classroom, just like he always did. He mostly did random paperwork for Emilia: photocopying, assembling booklets, prepping art projects, that sort of thing.

For Emilia, it was weird seeing Allen play the doting parent again. And she was dying of curiosity to meet his wife. Erika clearly adored her mother from how much she talked about her; if just half the things the girl had said were true then that woman was an amazing person. Erika was by far the most mature kindergartener she had ever taught. Not that there was much teaching involved, as the little girl was extremely smart. It had become Emilia's mission to convince Allen that Erika should skip first grade.

It replaced her recently completed mission of finding Timothy, which she had been trying to do ever since she had remembered the past. Based off of her own age, Emilia had expected him to be in high school. It caught her completely off guard when she saw his name on her roster of kindergarten students. The possibility of it being a coincidence was written off when the final name on the list was 'Erika Walker'; having the names of _both_ children from the war on her list could only mean that they were both in her class.

The two together reminded Emilia of a toned down version of Allen and Kanda. One minute they were best friends and the next, they were fighting like cats and dogs. Yet they were never disruptive of her teaching or the other students; Erika would walk away if Timothy tried to start something at an inappropriate time. It was just one of the many things that convinced Emilia that the girl needed to be bumped up a grade.

Allen wouldn't hear of it though. Having skipped a grade himself, he knew first-hand how hard it was to be a year younger than all of his classmates. He vividly remembered the bullying he'd received in high school and didn't want to inflict any of that on Eri.

That day though, Allen had to admit that the idea was tempting. With a new baby on the way, having Erika be challenged at school might be a good way to keep her busy. So when it was once again the first thing Emilia brought up, this time he said, "I'll think about it."

Emilia smiled brightly; it was the first time she'd gotten something other than "not gonna happen" from him, and she knew it was only a matter of time before he caved completely. She babbled on for a few minutes about it, then had to hurry to explain the tasks she had for him before the students came in.

The first thing Erika did when she got to the classroom was worm her way onto Allen's lap. She stayed there until Timothy arrived, and then the pair ran off to join their classmates.

The afternoon began like an ordinary Thursday. Allen came and went, doing his assigned tasks, his mind lost in thinking about the news he'd gotten that morning. Emilia taught the day's lessons, occasionally having to remind Erika to focus whenever Allen left the room.

Everything happened so fast that the adults in the room missed it. One moment the children were all working on art projects and the next, Timothy was sprawled out on the ground, crying and rubbing his face, Erika standing over him, her arm still raised from having slapped him. Emilia rushed over to the pair, grabbing Erika and pulling her away. "Erika! We don't hit our classmates."

The little girl's silver eyes widened with fear. "But he did something to my hair!"

Emilia took a closer look at Erika. The girl's long hair, once done up in a neat braid, was now falling loose around her shoulders. Timothy must have taken her hair band. Emilia sighed. "That doesn't matter. You shouldn't hit him."

She turned the little girl around and pointed towards a desk all by itself in the far corner of the room. "You have to go sit in the lonely chair now."

Erika teared up and refused to move. "But I didn't do anything wrong!"

"She hit me!" Timothy's cries finally formed coherent words.

Emilia turned her focus from the stubborn girl to the crying boy. And that's when she saw her teacher's scissors in his hand. She groaned inwardly. Even in this lifetime, Timothy was still a world-class trouble maker.

She pulled him off the floor, and that's where she found Erika's hair band: still wrapped around the bottom of the girl's braid. Timothy had cut off more than two inches of Erika's hair.

Allen returned to the classroom just in time to hear Erika scream at seeing her severed hair. He caught her before she could run at Timothy. "What's going on?"

His question went unanswered. Erika's screams turned to sobs as Allen pulled her close. Emilia took the scissors from Timothy and glared down at him. "Timothy! That is not what scissors are for! Now apologize to Erika right now!"

"No! She hit me!"

Emilia had to resist the urge to hit Timothy herself; things were so much simpler back in the 1800's when teachers were allowed to hit students. "Then you leave me no choice. I have to send you to the principal's office."

The aide came and whisked Timothy away. It was routine for her, the little boy got in major trouble at least once a month.

Emilia turned her attention to Allen as he tried to console the hysterical Erika. She handed him the little bundle of hair. She had no clue how to explain what happened to him. He was incredibly protective of his little girl, and Emilia remembered enough of the past to know why. She didn't want to be on the receiving end of Allen's mama bear side; he could easily blame her for what had happened.

Allen took Erika out into the hall where they wouldn't disturb the rest of the class. He sat against the wall, trying not to cry at hearing his precious little girl so upset. She sobbed into his chest, and he gently stroked her hair and whispered soothing words until she calmed down.

He helped her wipe away her tears, and then positioned her so he could fix her braid while he talked. "Eri, sweetheart. You can't do things like that."

Erika sniffled and rubbed her eyes. "But Mommy hits Daddy..."

Allen smiled slightly and kissed the top of her head, his practiced fingers never stopping their work. "Yes, but Mommy's a grown up. And Eri is a kid. You remember how we've been talking about things grown-ups can do that kids can't, right?"

He waited for her to finish nodding, then he wrapped an elastic band from his wrist around the bottom of her braid, frowning at how much shorter and uneven it was. She was going to need to get it straightened out. And she wouldn't like that.

Allen turned Erika around so that he could look into her silver eyes. "Hitting is one of those things that you're not old enough to do. Ok?"

She nodded, unshed tears still threatening to fall. Allen kissed her forehead gently. "I'm not mad at you. You didn't know that what you did was wrong. But you can't do it again."

He hugged Eri tightly. "Are you ready to go back inside?"

She shook her head and buried her face in her mother's chest. "No."

Allen tightened his hug and kissed her head once more. "I love you, Sweetheart."

Erika finally managed a little smile. Her hair was ruined, and she had done something bad, but her mother still loved her. "I love you too."

The aide returned while they were sitting there. She cleared her throat to get Allen's attention. "The principal and the counselor want to talk to Erika."

Erika latched on tighter and whimpered. She knew by now that even if she wasn't in trouble with her mother, she could still be in trouble with someone else. Allen smiled sheepishly at the aide as he stood up. "Lead the way."

Erika had Allen put her down before they went inside. She straightened her clothes and wiped away her tears. With her head held high, she walked in, gave a short bow, and apologized for her behavior. Allen had to resist laughing: if Kanda ever apologized, that would be exactly how he would do it, though with a lot more sarcasm.

The principal and the counselor didn't really know what to do with the little girl in front of them. She had no history of acting out. They only knew her name from Emilia's requests for aptitude tests. They certainly didn't expect a kindergartener to apologize with such grace and maturity.

After a couple mundane questions about the incident, the counselor requested the chance to speak with Erika alone. The little girl followed her to her office, but only after getting her mother's permission first.

Allen returned to Emilia's classroom while he waited for the counselor to finish with Erika; he needed to keep himself busy or he would go crazy. Between the new baby and everything that had just happened with Eri, his head was about ready to explode.


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: So. The pairing I introduce in this chapter is really cute in my head. I hope that you guys will like it too.

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The school day ended, and the students left, but the counselor was still talking to Erika. Allen helped Emilia clean up the classroom while he waited. She sighed as she straightened the chairs. "I can't believe Timothy would do that. It's so hard to see him as an unruly child again; especially when I know he grows into a somewhat respectable young man. I bet he'd be mortified by his behavior if he ever remembers the past, he never would have been so mean to Erika back then."

Allen smiled a secret smile, recalling a conversation that he had once had with that young man. "I don't know about that..."

"I suppose you're right. It's best that he doesn't remember." Emilia laughed lightly. "He'd be mortified that he's ten years younger than he's supposed to be."

That smile graced Allen's face again. "Actually that's the part he'd be the happiest about. His age was the thing he hated most back then."

Confused by the statement, Emilia looked up to see a really strange expression on Allen's face. It seemed weird to her that the overly self-confident Timothy would hate something about himself. "What are you talking about, Allen? Why would Timothy have hated his age?"

Allen merely shrugged and continued with his work. "He was fifteen years older than the girl he loved. That would be hard on anyone."

What Allen hadn't said out loud clicked for Emilia just as the girl he was alluding to returned to the classroom. Erika ran straight to her mother and climbed into his lap. The counselor entered the room right behind Eri. "You've got a brilliant daughter, Mr. Walker."

"Thank you." The words were said more out of habit than because he was actually listening to the woman. He was too busy with the squirming girl on his lap.

The counselor smiled at the interaction between the two before turning her attention to Emilia. "I gave Erika that test you requested, Miss Galmar. I-"

That statement had Allen's full attention. "Test? What test?"

Emilia laughed. "An aptitude test. For that thing we've been talking about." She was intentionally vague; she knew from experience that Allen didn't want to talk about that subject in front of Erika.

Allen nodded knowingly. He looked down at the girl on his lap. "Hey Eri, why don't you go read a book? The adults need to talk."

"Ok." She smiled and ran off to the bookshelf in the corner.

The counselor's test supported everything that Emilia had been telling Allen over the past few months: Erika was highly intelligent and mature for her age. She wanted to have the girl take a few more tests, to get all the data she could before submitting her recommendation that Erika be bumped up a grade level.

Allen gave his permission for the tests, if a little reluctantly. He was still on the fence about the whole thing, but a few tests didn't mean that it was actually going to happen.

Erika came bouncing over when it was time to leave. She impatiently dragged Allen from the room, barely giving him time to say goodbye to Emilia. He laughed as he buckled her into her car seat. Her squirming stopped just long enough for him to fasten the straps easily and then she was bouncing away again. Thursday afternoons were 'Erika and Mommy time' and she had already lost half an hour; she wanted to get home as soon as possible.

But Allen didn't go home, he went to a salon. Erika started sobbing the second she realized what the place was. Allen held her close as he explained to the lady at the counter what had happened. The stylist was understanding and made the haircut as painless as possible for the terrified girl. In the end, Eri lost another two inches of her long navy hair. But it was now straight instead of jagged.

For being a good sport, Allen took Erika out to ice cream afterward. He offered her anything she wanted, but she truly was Kanda's child and wanted nothing more than a plain vanilla cone. Allen was thankful for that though, as just looking at some of the other flavors was triggering his morning sickness.

Allen couldn't help smiling at his daughter as she licked away at her treat while they sat on a bench outside. Now that she was calm, it seemed like a good time to talk about what happened earlier; it was finally time for him to get Erika's thoughts on skipping a grade. "The counselor said you took a test today. How was it?"

Eri scrunched up her face while she thought. "Hard."

"Did you like it?"

She shrugged, and the gesture made Allen smile. "Did she tell you why you had to take the test?"

"No. But she said that I have to do it again tomorrow." Eri pouted just a little.

"Yes, she told me that too. And there are others for you to take next week."

Erika's eyes went wide. "Why?"

Allen sighed. "When school ends next month, you'll be done with kindergarten. Then when September comes, your friends will all start first grade."

Eri nodded, her silver eyes lighting up with excitement. "Miss Emilia told us all about first grade. She said-"

He cut off her babbling before she could get too carried away. "Eri. You're not going to first grade."

Her silver eyes got huge and immediately filled with tears. Allen quickly grabbed a napkin and started dabbing away the few that spilled down her cheeks. "No, no, no, Sweetheart. It's not bad news. You don't need to cry."

She sniffled a few times, but managed to hold back the waterworks. Allen leaned close and kissed her forehead. "Eri, Miss Emilia and the counselor want to put you in _second_ grade next year."

The look of confusion on Erika's face was priceless. "But what about first grade? Doesn't first come before second?"

Allen smiled gently at her confusion, trying to resist the urge to squeeze her over how adorable she was being. "Normally. But Miss Emilia thinks you're too smart for first grade. She thinks it would be too easy for you, so she wants to put you in second grade instead. It's called skipping a grade. It's something special for students who are especially smart." He tickled her side and made her giggle just a little. "That's why you have to take those tests, so that the school can know how smart you are."

Erika nodded and licked at her ice cream. She seemed to understand what was happening. Allen sighed, next came the hard part, at least she didn't seem excited. "But you don't have to if you don't want to. If you want to go to first grade with your friends, you can."

The little girl's face scrunched up in thought. "But why would I do that if going to second grade makes me special?"

"Eri, do you like going to school with Timothy?" It was a question Allen already knew the answer to, so he wasn't surprised when Erika started nodding enthusiastically. "What about Mason? Do you like seeing your cousin every day?"

Erika made a face. "Mason's a crybaby."

Allen laughed lightly; that brown haired boy was definitely Miranda's child. "That's not what I asked, Eri."

The little girl shrugged and went back to licking her ice cream cone. She froze mid-lick at her mother's next words. "If you go to second grade then you won't have class with them anymore."

She gazed wide-eyed at him as they stared each other down, Allen trying to figure out what she was thinking, and Eri trying to figure out if her mother was serious. Eventually she gave up and returned her attention to her ice cream. "But we'd still have recess together, right?"

"I suppose that's true." Allen laughed and let the subject drop. If she had no issues with skipping a grade, then he had no reason to fight it; even if it meant that she was growing up too fast.

When the ice cream was gone, they finally went home. The second she was freed from her car seat, Erika ran straight to Allen's studio. Piano lessons weren't as fun as karate lessons, but so long as she was alone with her mother, they would remain her favorite.

Five thirty came much too quickly for the little girl, and she grumbled the entire time Allen put her back in the car. It was common behavior for her, and Allen knew that she really did love her siblings, but it still worried him; he was scared that she wouldn't take the news of a new baby well. This time around he was also going to have to have the 'where do babies come from' talk with her, and that was an even scarier thought.

Picking up the twins was yet another fiasco for Allen's already crazy day. Matthew was hopped up on something sugary and would not hold still. He ended up chasing Erika around the playground; Allen found it obnoxious but hoped the physical activity would burn off the boy's excess energy. Yumi, on the other hand, was exhausted and just wanted to go home; she wrapped Allen's leg in a tight hug and didn't let go.

They couldn't leave just yet though. One of the teachers spotted them and flagged Allen down before he could wrangle the rest of his kids. "I want to talk to you about Yumi. Do you have a minute?"

"Of course. What is it you want to talk about?"

After the incident with Eri and Timothy that afternoon and knowing that Yumi had inherited her father's temper, Allen was expecting to hear that she had hit someone. He was definitely not expecting the teacher to say, "I've been observing Yumi for a while now, and I'm worried that she's not where she should be, developmentally."

Allen's heart stopped as he gazed down at the navy haired girl gripping his leg. "What do you mean by that?"

"It's hard to say specifically, but she's not talking like she should be. Aside from 'yes', 'no', and 'potty', she doesn't say anything."

"She's just shy. There are a lot of unfamiliar people here." Allen was reluctant to believe something was wrong with his youngest child.

The teacher shook her head. "This is more than that. A child her age should at least be repeating the things she hears, but Yumi doesn't even try. When she's with that red headed boy over there," the woman paused to point across the playground at Matthew, "she gets a little more talkative, but the things they say to each other are gibberish. I-"

Allen frowned in thought as he interrupted her. "That's Matthew, her twin brother. It makes sense that she'd be more open around him. But is it gibberish they're speaking, or is it Japanese? We're bilingual at home."

The teacher echoed his thoughtful frown. "It's possible. I don't know any Japanese, so I wouldn't be able to tell. But that poses a different problem. She may not be speaking to anyone because Japanese may be the only language of the two that she actually understands."

Allen shook his head. "No, that's not it. She understands English just fine at home, and you yourself said that she can answer questions."

After a brief awkward silence, the woman caved. "I guess I'm worrying about nothing then. I don't mean to be an alarmist; I'm just concerned about her. I'm sorry if I've overstepped my bounds."

"Don't be." Allen smiled at her. "I'd much rather be worried over something that turns out to be nothing than miss something important because you didn't speak up."

While the teacher apologized again and thanked him for being understanding, Allen bent down and pried Yumi off his leg. She clung to him as he positioned her on his hip. "Well, Yumi, what do you want for dinner?"

The tired little girl immediately brightened and began listing off every food she could think of. Despite how strongly she took after Kanda, it was Yumi who had inherited Allen's love of food.

Allen laughed and called for Matthew and Erika, who came running the second they heard their names. It took some effort, but eventually all three kids were buckled into their car seats and they were headed home.


	5. Chapter 4

A/N: I'm not particularly happy with this chapter, but I got it done, so I can't complain too much. I hope you enjoy it.

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The brats were being especially rowdy tonight, bouncing off the walls and getting into things that they weren't supposed to touch. It was chaos trying to get them to behave like civilized people. And just when it seemed like I finally got them settled down, Lenalee arrived and they got all riled up again. Seriously, how was I going to handle having another one of those little monsters?

At least for the next few hours they were Lenalee's problem. I didn't feel the least bit bad about dumping the hyperactive brats on her either. After all, she had volunteered to babysit. Komui's sister-complex was just as bad this time around, despite the fact that their parents were alive, and Lenalee firmly believed that babysitting my children was the closest she would get to having children of her own, so she often volunteered for the job. She even, on occasion, showed up spontaneously and kicked Kanda and I out of the house; she claimed that it was for the sake of our relationship, but we all knew that she just wanted to be alone with the kids for a while.

The kids weren't the only ones she was mothering tonight though. When Lenalee arrived, the first thing she did was shove a bottle of prenatal vitamins into my hand, and as she greeted the kids, she shot death glares at me until I took one. It was nice to have someone looking out for my health, but her overbearing concern made me glad that I was leaving.

I didn't want to go to this dinner meeting, but after the day I'd had, I needed a break. Not that a job interview with an executive from a recording company was going to be much of a break, but it would at least be a free meal and I'd get a little bit of time away from my noisy kids.

The whole thing was Kanda's idea. He figured that if I actually met with them, and told them no to their faces, they'd finally get the message that I didn't want to sign with them. I had reluctantly agreed to try it once; I didn't want to meet with them, but I definitely wanted them to stop hassling me. But there was one thing that I was absolutely not going to do. Kanda wanted me to listen and actually consider their offer before I turned it down. I was not going to do that. I liked my life the way it was.

Lenalee, in her usual way, gave me crap about what I chose to wear. Ever since she remembered that I used to cross-dress back during the war, she was constantly trying to put me in women's clothing. I steadfastly refused, or I would have if I'd been given a choice. Unfortunately, it was going to be a while before maternity clothing caught up with science, and until then, I was going to be stuck with a closet full of skirts and dresses.

Despite Lenalee's best attempts, I succeeded at leaving the house in male clothing. Though to be honest, that was because I was more scared of what Kanda would do if he thought I was trying to sabotage my meeting than I was of her, since sabotaging the meeting was exactly the reason why I would have worn a skirt - the meeting was more likely to go how I wanted it to go if they thought I was trans or a cross-dresser. But like I said, I was too scared of Kanda to go through with that.

I said goodbye to the kids and gave Lenalee the instructions for the night, even though she already knew all of the rules and was almost better at enforcing them than I was. My attempt to procrastinate leaving ended abruptly as Lenalee literally shoved me out the door and locked it behind me.

The night went downhill from there.

I wasn't late, but Mr. Morrison was already there. And the first thing he said to me after the hostess brought me to his table was, "I took the liberty of ordering drinks for us."

One glance at the glasses on the table, which were obviously filled with scotch on the rocks, and I knew for certain that he had meant alcoholic drinks. It would have been annoying under normal circumstances, but I had just learned that morning that I was pregnant, so having alcohol forced on me was an even bigger nuisance than normal. Fortunately, I was a good liar and could decline the offer without having to tell him exactly why I couldn't have alcohol. "Thank you, but I don't drink."

Mr. Morrison just laughed as we sat down. "There's no need to be polite. The label is paying for everything tonight. Enjoy yourself and don't worry about the cost!"

Ignoring him, I smiled up at the hostess before she could walk away. "Can I get a ginger ale?"

"Certainly." She smiled and walked off.

Turning my attention back to Mr. Morrison, I found him scowling suspiciously at me. I was going to need a more specific lie if I wanted him to drop the subject. Fortunately, I had a plethora of those at my disposal. "My father was an alcoholic."

That was actually more truth than lie, but Cross' former drinking habits had nothing to do with why I didn't drink. It worked perfectly for getting people to stop pushing drinks on me though, and tonight was no exception. Mr. Morrison was so uncomfortable with my comment that he immediately changed the subject.

We made small talk about the weather and other menial things until the waiter came with my drink and took our order, and then the conversation shifted to the important things. I may have wanted to intentionally bomb this meeting, but when I was talking about my music, I really couldn't stop myself from being upbeat and enthusiastic. I knew that everything I said was impressing Mr. Morrison, but no matter how much I wanted to, I just couldn't mask my passion for the subject. I loved music almost as much as I loved my children.

After we finished our meal, which I was certain he regretted offering to pay for - my appetite may have been nothing like it used to be, but I still ate a lot compared to most people - Mr. Morrison led me over to the lounge's grand piano. Before I could protest, he had ushered me into sitting on the bench and began urging me to play something for him. My fingers automatically settled onto the keys, but I was still very resistant to actually doing anything that might possibly make him offer me a job. "What, exactly, do you want me to play? Something original? Classical? Popular?"

He shrugged nonchalantly as he stopped me from listing more music genres. "Anything you want. I'm sure that there's something people always ask you to play for them. Just play that song."

Despite wanting to sabotage this meeting, I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that suggestion. The song he was suggesting was far too perfect for my goal, so I had to make sure it wasn't some kind of trick. "I've got three children under the age of seven. Do you really want me to play my most requested song?"

I was definitely having fun being stubborn and uncooperative, so when he insisted that that song was indeed the one he wanted me to play, I happily obliged. I got myself situated and launched into the song my little girls loved to make me play for them. I only made it twenty seconds into 'Let It Go' before Mr. Morrison burst out laughing and told me to stop. "Okay, okay! You win! You can stop now. Why don't you play something you've written that I haven't heard before?"

My uncooperative mood was no longer because I didn't want to impress him; I was legitimately pissed off by that suggestion. Though I somehow managed to maintain my composure. "No offense, but I'm not that stupid. I make my living selling my songs; I'm not going to play something new in a public place like this where anyone can hear it and steal it."

If Mr. Morrison understood that I was accusing him of trying to rip me off, he didn't let on. He laughed and clasped a hand to my shoulder in an overly friendly manner. "Then play a song you've published. I want to hear something that you wrote."

That was easier said than done, as it undoubtedly meant that he wanted to hear that one specific song I had written, and despite it having been popular for the last few years, I still tended to cry when I played it. But then again...

I was all but sobbing before I made it halfway through the song, and not because I was trying to make myself cry. When I finished, I paused to collect myself and found that Mr. Morrison had finally put some distance between us, so if nothing else, I had at least gotten him to back out of my personal space. He asked the questions that I knew were coming next, the ones about where I found the inspiration for my songs, and I answered them as best I could in my distraught state; after all, they were the same questions that everyone asked about that song and I had long since memorized the lies that made me look good.

Mr. Morrison ended the meeting after that, but I could tell that this was far from over. Purposely playing a song that made me cry had backfired. He wanted me more now than he had before the meeting. The only silver lining was that he had left without offering me anything, so I'd at least been able to keep my promise to Kanda; I couldn't turn down an offer that hadn't been made.

I was beyond ready to go home, but the night was not quite over yet. As I was leaving the lounge, someone called out to me. "Red?!"

I turned at the name, despite the fact that I hadn't been called by it in years; Red was the alias I used whenever Cross sent me out to play poker, and I had stopped doing that back when I got pregnant with Erika.

The man who'd called out immediately closed the distance between us and wrapped me in a hug. Despite having been well liked by the group I gambled with, it was still an oddly affectionate gesture; Blake was way too happy to see me. But at the moment, I was just relieved that I'd let Lenalee talk me into covering my scar. "It _is_ you! The guys'll be so relieved to hear that I bumped into you!"

"Let go of me, Blake." I shoved him away roughly, but I froze when I registered what he'd said. "Wait. What do you mean, they'll be relieved? What happened after I left?"

Blake shook his head. "You always said that you owed a lot of money to some really bad people, so when you stopped showing up at the club, we thought they'd caught up to you and..."

I cut him off with a laugh. It was both touching and hilarious that they'd all thought I'd been killed, but the humor won out. "No one was ever after me. I only said that so you'd feel bad for me and let your guard down so that I could take more of your money."

Blake looked really hurt by the comment. "Then why'd you stop coming to play with us?"

It was weird that he'd missed me enough to not be insulted by the insult, and I suddenly felt like I owed him an honest answer. Or at least, as honest an answer as I could legally give him. "You've heard of Zuploxin, right?"

His eyes widened in recognition, but then he scowled at me. "What does a drug that makes men pregnant have to do with your disappearance?"

"My husband and I were selected to be a part of one of their test groups, and I was their first successful pregnancy." It was part of my agreement with Accenco that I would claim that my first pregnancy had been intentional, and it wasn't even a lie that I'd been part of a drug trial, but it was still strange to say out loud. I knew that my age put huge holes in that story; anyone who knew that I was only sixteen at the time could put together for themselves that my pregnancy wasn't my idea. But Blake was not a bright man, and neither was anyone else in my old gambling circle, so I didn't have to worry about that right now. "It was super secret at the time, so I had to stop going out in public. I was going to come back after I had the baby, but being a parent didn't leave me enough time for things like that."

For a moment, it looked like Blake was going to pepper me with questions, like people usually did when they found out that I had been pregnant, but then he decided against it. Apparently, he was too creeped out to ask questions. "Well, congratulations on having a baby, but that's really no excuse. We thought you were dead. You could have at least stopped by to say hello every once in a while. We all really missed you."

"I'll keep that in mind the next time I have some free time. Maybe I'll stop in and lighten your wallets a little."

He echoed my smirk. "As long as it's only a little. I'm long past the days when I can afford to lose the shirt off my back."

The true meaning of the comment was not lost on me, and I couldn't help pouting at it. "Hey! I never actually sent anyone home in just their underwear!"

Blake just laughed and tousled my hair before he walked off. "It was good to see you, Red."


	6. Chapter 5

A/N: This chapter has actually been finished for a while, but I kept forgetting to post it. Oops.

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I was exhausted when I finally made it home that night. Fortunately, Kanda was home by then, which meant that the kids were all asleep and Lenalee had already left, so I didn't have to deal with them and could just go straight to bed. But I forgot to anticipate that it was still early enough in the evening that Kanda wasn't going to just let me go to sleep.

The moment I was lying next to him in our bed, Yuu's hands were under my shirt and his lips were on mine. I let him kiss me for a moment, but once my tired brain woke up enough to realize that he wanted sex, I sighed and pushed him away. I just wanted to get some sleep.

Kanda was respectful and backed off, but that didn't stop him from wanting to know why I was refusing sex. But while I was expecting him to question me, I didn't expect the conclusion he had reached. "Is this about tomorrow?"

I blinked at the strange look he was giving me, unable to recall what was supposed to be happening tomorrow. "Huh?"

Yuu gave me that 'how stupid can you be' look that he was so good at. "I get that you're nervous about the surgery, but tomorrow's just the consultation. It's nothing to be worried about."

I understood now. He thought I was stressing about the plans to remove my womb. My appointment with Komui tomorrow was originally supposed to be the exam to make sure that my body was ready for my upcoming hysterectomy - something that I had actually been looking forward to. While the idea of major surgery was a little scary, I definitely wanted to go through with it; I didn't want to ever have to worry about getting pregnant again. I was just a couple weeks away from my greatest desire, and instead, I'd found myself exactly where I hadn't wanted to be: pregnant again.

Kanda kissed me gently. "I know we decided not to have any more kids, but if you've changed your mind, just say so. I-"

I was quick to cut him off before the misunderstanding went too far. "No, it's not that. Today was just a stressful day, that's all."

He laughed and tousled my hair. "How so, Moyashi?"

I laughed mirthlessly. "Where should I start? Erika hit Timothy at school today; it was self-defense, so she was let off with a warning, but he ended up suspended. She doesn't know that yet, and I imagine she'll have quite a fit when he's not there tomorrow. One of the daycare teachers thinks Yumi might have a learning disability because she apparently only talks to Matthew during the day. And as the complete opposite of that: the school had Eri take an aptitude test, and now they're talking about having her skip to second grade next year. My meeting tonight went about like I expected it to, and now they're going to be even more annoying with their recruiting techniques. And somehow, in the middle of all this chaos, I have to find the time and strength and energy to have another baby."

Kanda had been following along with my ramblings pretty well, but he froze with that last sentence. He stared blankly at me for a moment before it melted into a confused expression. "You're pregnant?"

It wasn't until he spoke that I realized what I'd said. This wasn't at all how I wanted to tell him, but I was venting and it just came out. I sighed; I couldn't take it back now. "I got the confirmation this morning, but I've suspected it for a couple days."

The next words he spoke were exactly what I expected, as was the offended tone he used. "And why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I know you, Yuu. I don't want to have another kid, but you've only known about it for like two minutes and you're already thinking of names for it." I sighed heavily once more. "I also didn't want to tell you until I knew for sure because I didn't want to get your hopes up. If I had told you three days ago that I thought I was pregnant and then we found out that I wasn't, you'd be so devastated that I'd end up canceling my surgery plans and letting you get me pregnant again. It was best for both of us to wait to tell you until after it was confirmed."

Yuu just continued to stare suspiciously at me. "And were you actually going to tell me? If it hadn't slipped out just now, would you have told me or would you have just gone ahead and gotten rid of it in secret?"

I scowled and punched him in the shoulder. "Really? You're going to accuse me of going behind your back and aborting our baby? Do you not know me at all?"

"Right. That was stupid of me." Kanda leaned in and gave me quick kiss as an apology before his expression became stern once more. "But I do want to know when you were planning on telling me."

I shrugged; I really hadn't thought that far ahead. "Sometime this weekend, probably. I know you want to know how far along I am and all that, so I was planning to wait until I knew the answers before I told you. My appointment tomorrow's been changed from the surgery consult to an ultrasound and exam. So once I've met with Komui, I'll be able to answer all the questions you have."

The explanation seemed to appease him, but his next words made me wonder if he was really listening to me. "How far along are you?"

I sighed and shook my head at the question. "I just told you that I don't know yet. But based on when the morning sickness started, I think I'm about three or four weeks in."

My grumbling made him shake his head at me. "Moyashi. Stop freaking out. It's just a-"

I snorted at him as I cut off his attempt to calm me down. "I have every right to be freaking out right now - I can't do it in front of the kids. Besides, I don't want another baby, and it's glaringly obvious that you _do_ want it, so you're just going to have to deal with it."

Kanda frowned and raised an eyebrow at me. "'Glaringly obvious'? Why are you so certain that you know how I feel about the baby? I'm not as into this as you think I am."

His attempt to deny being excited was almost funny. To an outside observer, his usual stoic expression was probably pretty convincing, but I'd been with him for quite some time, and I knew all of his behavioral tics that gave away his true feelings. "Oh really? Where are your hands right now?"

Kanda's eyes drifted away from my face as he finally noticed that he was touching my belly. He had placed his hands there right after I'd told him about the baby. It was incredibly uncomfortable for me, and not just because I didn't want to be pregnant again. It felt like I'd just finally gotten my stomach flat after carrying the twins, and now it was going to get big again; all of that hard work was for nothing.

Yuu let out a resigned sigh as he finally moved his hands. He brushed my hair behind my ear and kissed my forehead. "Fine. You win. I'm glad you're pregnant. It's thrilling just thinking about having another child with you. I want this baby, and I want you to have more after it's born."

I snorted as I pulled his hand out of my hair. "And that's why you're not touching me again until you get a vasectomy."

I expected him to protest, but instead he just laid quietly beside me; the way he was staring up at the ceiling was really odd. Kanda finally broke his silence with a heavy sigh. "I know you don't like to talk about the war, Moyashi, but there's something we need to talk about, ok?"

I blinked, stunned by the unexpected subject change, and when I didn't interrupt, he took that as permission to continue. "The Second Exorcist Project didn't just give me strength and healing abilities. It also changed my appearance. This isn't what I looked like in my original incarnation."

He paused there, nearly driving me crazy wondering what on earth he was getting at. It wasn't at all like Kanda to talk about that part of his history, and what he'd just told me was so completely unexpected that I had no clue what to make of it. I could only stare speechlessly at him as I waited for him to continue. "That day, seven years ago, when we remembered the past. I had just parked my car at the mall and was about to come join you when it happened. My first thought when I remembered was anger. It pissed me off that I had been brought back in this form rather than my original. It felt like fate was toying with me; even in this new life, I couldn't escape from that horrible project. I was beyond livid and on the verge of doing something stupid."

He took a deep breath to calm himself down, and then he turned and smiled at me. "And that was when I saw your jacket on the passenger seat of the car. And with the thought of you, everything was suddenly ok. I _was_ brought back in this form on purpose, but it was because of _you_ , because this was the appearance that _you_ knew and loved. My second chance at life was also a second chance with you, and that was far more important than my appearance."

I had to blink away some tears before I could respond. "What was the point of telling me this?"

He reached out and caressed my cheek, brushing away a tear that had fallen. "Just so that you know how much I love you, Allen. I know that being pregnant again scares you, but I'll be right here at your side the whole time. I'm not going anywhere, and I'm not going to intentionally get you pregnant against your will. Yes, I want more kids, but if you're truly dead set on making it so that this one is our last, I'm ok with that. There's no need to threaten me to get your way, Moyashi."

I wanted to argue with him about that last point - threatening him was a proven method for getting my way - but I was so touched by what he was saying that I ended up burying my face in his chest and crying. I felt him roll his eyes at me, but he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer, holding me tightly while I sobbed.

When the tears finally faded, I stayed where I was, loving the feeling of being held by my husband. There were many things I loved about this new life, but my favorite had to be that we were reborn into a time where being gay was socially acceptable. My relationship with Kanda was no longer something that had to be hidden, and he could - and frequently did - express his feelings for me in public.

But when Kanda moved his hands back to my belly, my thoughts shifted back to my pregnancy. "But what about the kids? They're all-"

Kanda laughed outright as he cut me off. "The kids are going to love having a younger sibling, Moyashi. It'll probably even be good for Yumi to not be the youngest anymore. If she's anything at all like Eri, having a baby around is going to bring her out of her shell."

The thought of my youngest daughter and the problems she was currently facing only made me more distraught. "Or she'll become the stereotypical middle child and fall through the cracks, and come to resent us for ignoring her throughout her childhood."

I was flicked on the ear rather painfully. I looked up to find Kanda scowling fiercely at me. "Baka Moyashi. You'd never let that happen, so stop depressing yourself. Besides, you know that Yumi takes after me. She's not slow, she's shy."

"I know. I know." I shoved his hand away from my head. "It's just that, on top of everything else that's happened today, it's really bothering me that there might be something wrong with her."

Yuu laughed at my whining. "You need to go to sleep, Moyashi."

I could only blink stupidly at the random suggestion. "Huh?"

He laughed again and brushed his hand into my hair. "You've had a long day. Get some sleep. You'll feel better in the morning."


End file.
